Oblivion: A new Dawn
by Suzumibachi
Summary: Raithe Verisari's life isn't normal, but his life in the thieves guild is great. That is until the mysterious death of his father at the hands of the Mythic Dawn. When he meets Avani Kirazai, a murderer in the Dark Brotherhood, things just get stranger
1. Chapter 1

_**Many years have passed since Emperor Martin Septum fought along a hero, whose name was unknown, to defeat the daedric lord Mehrunes Dagon. The war was over though we had no emperor. Or so we thought. However, the descendants of the living cult members have banded together to get rid of those strong enough to oppose them. The Guild Leaders. This all began 13 years ago with an attack on Bruma. They burned the city to the ground. Then it all ended. Or so it seemed.**_

_Smoke and fire raged around me. People were running, screaming and panicking. Men and women in red robes marched through the city. These looming figures were, to a child of six, as large as gods. I was hidden beneath the rubble of the Talos chapel. There was a girl my age hidden with me. Her glossy black hair reflected the flames of the burning city. She began to scream as one of the unholy figures threw aside the body of a tall Breton man. I too began to scream. _

Tirdas 12:01 am Imperial City

I awoke with a yell, trembling, covered in an icy sweat. I sat bolt upright in my bed, my breath coming in shaky gasps. "Raithe? Raithe! Are you alright?" My father's voice called to me in the dark.

"Y-yeah, just a nightmare." I lay back down. I was 19 almost 20 and I still had dreams of that day in Bruma. My adoptive father, Aeran, a redguard, stood above me, a grey cowl tucked carefully under one arm. "The dream again?" He asked. I nodded. "Just try to rest Raithe, I will see in the morning. It will be okay." Aeran smiled warmly in his fatherly way, and left my room. That was the only time he was wrong.

Tirdas 6:15 am

It was beginning to rain as Aeran's body was brought in through the door. Verimas, my father's right hand man, a Bosmer (like me but a full Bosmer instead of a bastardized breed. I'm half Dunmer) was found beside my father's body, unconscious, and beaten. Some assumed it was murder, most I think at the time. However, when Verimas awoke, He told a different story. He and my father were trying to return from a successful night of raiding, when Aeran had stopped and fallen to the ground. He was paralyzed from a spider bite. When Verimas had tried to grab my father and run, fearing that the Imperial Legion had finally caught up to them, a spider daedra and a red robed conjurer. While the spider viciously attacked Verimas, the conjurer stabbed my father ferociously several times before disappearing along with the spider. It was too late for my father Verimas said. My father had seemed to accept that he was at death's door. He died minutes later. Verimas went quiet and asked everyone to leave. Save for me.

"Raithe, before your father died, he asked me to tell you two things." Verimas reached beside his bed, and produced a grey cowl. "Wear it well and may shadow hide you." Verimas' breathing started to become harsh and shaky. "H-he said that" Verimas coughed violently, and closed his eyes "Tell Raithe, to find…" Verimas tried to continue but I couldn't understand him through a series of harsh coughs. The only word caught was "Sufferthorn" Verimas coughed a few more times, each becoming progressively softer than the last. I tried to call out to Kaane our healer but Verimas grabbed my arm. "No, Raithe, my time has come." He whispered "I can see my wife again, and your father, my best friend." I cried as the only words I could choke out were "Shadow hide you, faithful Verimas"

Morndas, 1:15 am

It took me almost a year to find the Sufferthorn.

It was in Cheydinhal, at the Riverview Manor. The Sufferthorn was an elfin dagger which was in the possession of an almost total recluse woman. The manor wasn't even guarded. I began to wonder why my father had wanted me to find this dagger. The lock on the front was one of the easiest I had ever picked. I was beginning to become wary. The house was beautiful on the inside as it was on the outside. The floors were immaculate and kept free of dirt and grime. The main staircase was carved in a traditional Dunmer pattern, and very striking on the dark cherry wood. What struck me as odd however was how empty the house seemed, it almost looked un-lived in. The house seemed quiet and lonely. I quickly searched the main floor, but the dagger, or anything to prove anyone actually lived here was not to be found. It would have to be upstairs. I prayed quietly that the owner wasn't home, but I figured I was out of luck as usual. There was no lock on the door, so I slipped quietly into the room. The room appeared to be a study/bedroom. In the farthest corner I saw that the woman was asleep in her bed, but on the table next to her was a curiously curved dagger, The Sufferthorn. Moving as quietly as I could I crept towards the dagger. I reached slowly for the blade, as my fingers curved around the blade, I felt a curious pain on the back of the neck, and the world slipped away into blackness.


	2. Chapter 2

Morndas 3:45 am Location Unknown.

My head was aching when I awoke. I was slightly dizzy as I opened my eyes. I let out a slight groan of pain as I noticed it looked like I was in a cave. How the hell did I end up in a cave? I felt like I was lying on a stone. Oh wait, I was. A woman's voice answered my groan. Her voice was as soft as silk, but as cold as ice and dangerous. "Ah…you're awake." A chilled finger ran down my face sending shivers down my spine. Not ordinary 'I'm scared out of my ever-loving mind' shivers but magical shivers. She had paralyzed me. I was going to die like my father. "Don't struggle. You'll hurt yourself" I couldn't tell but I thought I detected a hint of concern in her voice. The woman came to the edge of the stone tablet I was lying on. Her face was mostly obscured by a black hood and she was clothed in a large black robe. She appeared to be Breton but I couldn't be sure. "Welcome to my Sanctuary. The only reason you're alive right now is I want answers, thief. Why did you steal from me?" The woman drew the Sufferthorn from her robe. Carefully she picked up my arm and drew a thin line along the length of my arm. Pain exploded through my arm. I cried out in surprise, and anger. The cut hurt more than a shallow cut like that should hurt. "Now, Thief, tell me. Why did you try to steal from me?" She hissed. I tried to reply but nothing came out. Before I could try again, there came several loud raps on a door nearby. The robed woman answered. "What is it, Slayer?" She said curtly. "Why are you interrupting me?" Everything became clear then. I had tried to rob one of the Dark Brotherhood. I was in deep trouble. I needed to get out of here now. The Slayer had caught her breath and reported "Madam Speaker, its Lucien, he…he's dead!" The Speaker stood frozen for a moment before she hissed, "Get out." The Slayer didn't move "GET OUT!" The speaker screamed. She seized a ceramic glass off of a nearby table and threw it after the Slayer. It shattered against the door. The Speaker knocked the rest of the glass set to the floor, showering the ground with clay shards. She let out a howl of agony as she overturned the table and chair. She dropped to the floor, sobbing violently "S-Sithis, why…why Father? Forgive me Sithis, What have I done? Why, Lucien?" Another shiver passed over me and a moment later it occurred to me that the Speakers spell was broken. I glanced around quickly and noticed a ladder near the other corner of the room. I silently moved across the room. The Speaker was still on the floor sobbing about that man Lucien. With my hand on the first rung of the suspended ladder, I paused. This poor girl had just lost (what I assumed to be) her father. She just wanted answers from me. What was the harm in answering them? How could I leave her here while so clearly remembering the death of Aeran? Well, at least kindness would be the death of me.

"I am sorry for the death of your father…If I can help…" I was spared farther words by a piercing scream from some floor above us. The Speaker and I both darted for the door as more cries broke the silence "For Sithis!" some roared as others screamed "Night Mother!" As we crossed farther up two hallways the voices stopped and the sounds of fighting were silenced. I followed the Speaker as she rounded a sharp corner, into a central looking room. She and I stopped dead. A red robed figure was standing amidst the bodies of the murderers.

"Dagon." The Speaker whispered. Still in a hushed tone she summoned a spell "Wrath of Sithis." A bolt of black lightning struck the cultist dead. Silently the Speaker knelt by the bodies of her comrades. And cast a glimmering spell. The bodies of the murderers vanished, leaving only the cultist behind. In a harsh quiet tone the Speaker cast a final spell, dismissing the cultist's body in a hellish fire. She slowly turned around to face me.

"You, Thief, Tell me your name." The woman said, beneath her hood her face was a mask of sorrow.

"Raithe Verisari." I replied with a bow.

"Raithe" She seemed to be testing the name out. "You are a thief of the guild, but you are still honest and loyal. Please take me to the Grey Fox, my father Lucien told me that upon his death I was to find The Gray Fox. Take me to him, please."

"At your service Madam Speaker." I said.

"Then bring me to the Fox." She said coldly regarding me as an idiot.

"I am the Fox." I said.

"Lier." The Speaker hissed.

"They're not lies!" I protested.

"We shall see." The Speaker's eyes held my gaze as I felt another spell pass over me and the world slip away.

Bravil 4:10 am.

The fast travel spell that the Arcane University had come out with in recent years always made me sick. When the world (and my stomach) settled I realized when we were in Bravil center before the statue of the Lucky Lady. The Speaker was knelt before the statue in a dark reverence.

"Madam, Why are we here? What does the Lucky Lady have to do with anything?" I asked, as usual before thinking "I thought you wanted to know if I was the Grey Fox." The Speaker turned her hazel-green eyes on me, her gaze questioning. "The Lucky Lady? What **are **you talking about?"

"Y'know, that statue." I said gesturing.

"Lucky Lady! That is the Night Mother! Our unholy matron!" The Speaker was with the same unholy reverence "Now quiet, idiot. I must speak with her." She knelt again before the statue. After several long uncomfortable, silent moments, the Speaker rose.

"You spoke the truth. So says the Night Mother. I apologize for my rudeness, but I had to be sure." Her voice was so sad and apologetic that I could do nothing but reply "All is forgiven." and damn myself I smiled.

"Thank you." The Speaker said, not returning the smile. "However, the Night Mother said more...She said we must..." She broke off and collected herself "She said that we must go to Bruma, for much will be revealed there." Bruma. Why there? I hadn't been back since that day. Why now? The Speaker broke in among my thoughts "But for now we should rest." The Speaker lead the way.

?  
The girl beside me tugged on my arm. She inched about a foot away underneath the crumbling rubble of the chapel, the tugged on my arm again, indicating that she wanted me to follow her. She silently lead me to the nearby wall and pushed a stone into place. When she did so, the wall opened. The girl shoved me inside the wall and it sealed behind her. It was dark behind the wall, but the girl held aloft a ring of light, that slightly illuminated the cavern. I followed her out of the tunnel.

We ran far from the city. Dusk had fallen by the time we stopped. Wearily and remembering my father's recent teachings, I piled some wood I gathered together and set it ablaze. The girl sat across from me, her knees drawn up to her chest and her arms wrapped around her knees. "Are you okay?" I asked, she nodded. "What's your name?" I asked. She shook her head no. I realized then that...

Tirdas 1:56 pm Lonely Suitor Lodge, Bravil

"Mr. Fox, We leave for Bruma now." I awoke to the Speaker's voice.

"Okay?" I answered still half dreaming.

"I only have enough magicka to bring us to Namira's shrine. It's a two hour walk to Bruma for there." She said matter-of-factly.

"Mm. Okay, whatever let's go..." I said proffering my hand. And for the second time in so many hours, I felt sick.


End file.
